From time immemorial, man has removed hair from the surface of the skin initially by using a knife of wood or bone, and subsequently by using a metal blade, either dry or in conjunction with soaps or other products. Electric apparatuses were then designed making use of rotating or vibrating blades placed behind a grille having small openings for dry shaving. Various paths have been followed to find improvements to these means, but nevertheless the results have generally been disappointing.
A limitation on shaving action is established by the impossibility of using blades to go beyond the surface of the epidermis, and consequently the bristles grow back again within a few hours and show up sufficiently for a second shave to be necessary towards the end of the day, particularly for dark haired people.
Patent application No. GB-A-2 123 287 and US-A-3 693 623 have already proposed using an epilation device which includes a laser ray generator of the type developed for medical applications, whose beam is guided by flexible optical fibers so as to be directed onto the roots of individual hairs. This technique takes a long time and is therefore fundamentally incompatible with shaving the beard which in practice requires a set of bristles to be removed rapidly and simultaneously within a limited period of time. In the above-mentioned epilation technique, each hair root must be treated individually. In addition, transmitting a laser beam over optical fibers may cause problems in home applications.
Further, FR-A-1 560 498 proposes singeing hairs under the action of the impacts from sparks which strike the hairs lengthwise. However, in addition to the problem of rapid head wear due to spark formation, this solution has not proved satisfactory.
The object of the present invention is to mitigate these drawbacks.